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3. Trump Digs in Heels on U.S. Government Shutdown

President Trump said the partial shutdown of the federal government was going to last until his demand for funds to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border is met.

"I can't tell you when the government is going to reopen," Trump said, speaking after a Christmas Day video conference with U.S. troops serving abroad.

"I can tell you it's not going to reopen until we have a wall, a fence, whatever they'd like to call it. I'll call it whatever they want, but it's all the same thing. It's a barrier from people pouring into the country, from drugs."

Building a wall along the border with Mexico to keep migrants from entering the country illegally was a central plank of Trump's presidential campaign, but Democrats are vehemently opposed and have rejected his funding request of $5 billion.

[Mairaj2k19]

3. Trump Digs in Heels on U.S. Government Shutdown

President Trump said the partial shutdown of the federal government was going to last until his demand for funds to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border is met.

"I can't tell you when the government is going to reopen," Trump said, speaking after a Christmas Day video conference with U.S. troops serving abroad.

"I can tell you it's not going to reopen until we have a wall, a fence, whatever they'd like to call it. I'll call it whatever they want, but it's all the same thing. It's a barrier from people pouring into the country, from drugs."

Building a wall along the border with Mexico to keep migrants from entering the country illegally was a central plank of Trump's presidential campaign, but Democrats are vehemently opposed and have rejected his funding request of $5 billion.

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Trump also expressed confidence in Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, referring to him as a "very talented guy, very smart person."

The president also praised U.S. companies as "the greatest in the world" and said their lower stock prices present an opportunity for investors.

"I have great confidence in our companies. We have companies, the greatest in the world, and they're doing really well. They have record kinds of numbers. So I think it's a tremendous opportunity to buy."

[Mairaj2k19]

2. Trump Lashes Out at Fed – Again

U.S. President Donald Trump continued his spate of open criticism of the Fed, saying the central bank was hiking interest rates too quickly.

"They're raising interest rates too fast because they think the economy is so good. But I think that they will get it pretty soon," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Tuesday.

The Fed lifted rates for the fourth time this year last week and kept most of its guidance for additional hikes over the next two years.

[Mairaj2k19]

1. Futures Edge Higher After Christmas Eve Meltdown

U.S. stock futures pointed to a higher open, as Wall Street readied to reopen after a shortened pre-Christmas trading session on Monday, that saw it suffer its worst Christmas Eve ever in the history of the stock market.

At 5:45AM ET (10:45 GMT), the blue-chip Dow futures were up 105 points, or around 0.5%, the S&P 500 futures rose 12 points, or about 0.5%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures indicated a gain of 22 points, or roughly 0.4%.

U.S. markets were closed on Tuesday for the Christmas holiday.

Wall Street plunged on Monday in their worst day of Christmas Eve trading ever. The Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted more than 600 points, while the S&P 500 closed on the brink of bear market territory.

Earlier, Asian shares ended mixed. Japanese stocks saw gains following a Christmas Day plunge of both the Nikkei 225 and Topix.

Moves were limited by a holiday in Europe, where markets in Britain, Germany and France all remained closed.

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The Dow finished Monday 18.9 percent lower than its closing high. The Nasdaq is already in bear market, along with the Dow Jones Transport Average (DJT) and small-cap Russell 2000 index (RUT).

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.70-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and a 1.89-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.

The S&P index recorded no new 52-week highs and 194 new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded five new highs and 455 new lows.

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Energy stocks (SPNY) rose 1.8 percent as crude oil prices rebounded.

Retailers <.SPXRT> jumped 3.14 percent, led by Amazon, after a Mastercard (NYSE:MA) report showed U.S. holiday sales were the strongest in six years.

The heavy-weight FAANG group – Facebook Inc (O:FB), Amazon, Apple Inc (O:AAPL), Netflix Inc (O:NFLX) and Alphabet Inc (O:GOOGL), rose between 1 percent and 4 percent.

The S&P ended Monday 19.8 percent below its all-time closing high, with roughly three-fourths of its stocks already in a bear market.

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The S&P (SPX) was up 24.41 points, or 1.04 percent, at 2,375.51, at 11:37 a.m. ET, a day after the Christmas holiday.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) was up 196.31 points, or 0.90 percent, at 21,988.51 and the Nasdaq Composite (IXIC) was up 98.42 points, or 1.59 percent, at 6,291.34.

Eight of the 11 S&P sectors were higher, with the defensive utilities (SPLRCU) real estate <.SPLRCR> and consumer staples (SPLRCS) flat to lower.

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"The market doesn't look so healthy. The concerns are government shutdown, the economy, the President - what time is he going to tweet out about Federal Reserve," said Larry Benedict, founder of the Opportunistic Trader in Boca Raton, Florida.

"We're seeing the same thing recently and it's not really good. It opens up every day and it's met by selling and it ends nearer the low or on the low than the high. For the market to make a bottom, you need a bit of capitulation or panic bottom."

[Mairaj2k19]

But investors anxieties were far from gone. President Donald Trump renewed his attack on the Federal Reserve on Christmas, blaming it for the market slump.

Trump also said the U.S. government shutdown, now in its fifth day, would last until his demand for funds to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border is met.

A little over 2,100 stocks on the New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq hit 52-week lows. That compares with at least 2,600 stocks breaching new lows in the past three sessions.